“Tell me and I forget. Show me and I remember. Let me do and I understand.” ― Confucius
I teach for different groups, in various settings and with very different goals. I rejoice in teaching and feel in creative flow when sharing. Besides I am deepening my own learning when I am at work. I do not wish to call myself a teacher. I prefer to perceive myself as a facilitator, a leading researcher where the participants are my collaborators.
Dance and Movement Workshops
“In a society that worships love, freedom and beauty, dance is sacred. It is a prayer for the future, a remembrance of the past and a joyful exclamation of thanks for the present.” ― Amelia Atwater-Rhodes
› Every Body Knows™ – for all human and non human beings.
Find your own resources for resilience!
There is nothing new under the sun! And yet what is already there invites us to dive deeper into the layers of our presence; to seek a conscious yet liberated and sovereign place to dance from.
Together we are zooming into our physical, emotional and mental foundation. We are working with the sensations and anatomical make up of our bodies, directing our awareness to responses for inner and outer stimuli. With the aid of more analytic, anatomical images and various artistic tools (i.e. writing, drawing, sounding etc.) we are working with our bodies, discovering relations between our feelings, thoughts, postures and movements.
Building awareness of our perception system in action, gradually allowing habitual patterns to change, we find our own resources for resilience: strength, flexibility and endurance. Principles from Experiential Anatomy, Developmental Movement, Authentic Movement, Expressive Art Therapies and Contact Improvisation are being at our guidance to relate to our own unique self and reach out to dance with others.
Let’s fly out together (dancers, non-dancers) into an elevated flow, experiencing self-sufficient, self-satisfied and effortless bodies as we dance.
“Solo dancing does not exist: the dancer dances with the floor: add another dancer and you have a quartet: each dance with the other and each with the floor.” ― Steve Paxton
› Contact Improvisation – for all human and non human beings.
“Contact Improvisation is an evolving system of movement initiated in 1972 by American choreographer Steve Paxton. The improvised dance form is based on the communication between two moving bodies that are in physical contact and their combined relationship to the physical laws that govern their motion—gravity, momentum, inertia. The body, in order to open to these sensations, learns to release excess muscular tension and abandon a certain quality of willfulness to experience the natural flow of movement. Practice includes rolling, falling, being upside down, following a physical point of contact, supporting and giving weight to a partner.
Contact improvisations are spontaneous physical dialogues that range from stillness to highly energetic exchanges. Alertness is developed in order to work in an energetic state of physical disorientation, trusting in one’s basic survival instincts. It is a free play with balance, self-correcting the wrong moves and reinforcing the right ones, bringing forth a physical/emotional truth about a shared moment of movement that leaves the participants informed, centered, and enlivened.”—early definition by Steve Paxton and others, 1970s, from CQ Vol. 5:1, Fall 1979
Some of the themes, concepts and practices I have been sharing in years are › underscore and global underscore › consent and sexual energy in ci › every body knows for ci › embodying time in ci › multidirectional and multilayer attention › ci as a research paradigm › communication in the limits › undecided decisions, decisive indecisiveness › bodyscapes and soundscapes in ci › experiential anatomy in and for ci › rising with questions › opening space for time, opening time for space › load up or rise up › resting in listening › trust and flow › holding with eyes instead of hands › ci basics
“I don’t know what it is, but it’s all clear.” ― Julyen Hamilton
› Instant Composition – for dancers, musicians, actors and all who wish to develop compositional and ensemble skills.
These trainings are very much informed by the works of by my masters Julyen Hamilton and Simone Forti. I propose moving, verbalizing, witnessing the self and others, writing, and verbal discussions. We focus on composition skills (“how things are made, how they function, how they might go together”-JH) and kinesthetic techniques (“to have a close relationship between, the creative self, and the mind/body”-JH) and movement articulations rather than aesthetics towards instant co-creations.
Given to my background, I also involve practices from Volleyball, Ensemble Physical Theater, and Authentic Movement. I utilize concepts from somatic practices (mostly Alexander Technique and Somatic Experiencing) music and sound awareness (based on my trainings with Bare Philips and my collaborations with Charlie Rabuel and KAROSRI musicians). My socio-political views sneak into this work as we mainly focus on the subjects of co-laboration, co-ordination, taking and giving time and space, selection of protagonist-antagonist-support roles, moving and being moved, entrance and exit, beginning and ending.
The meta-focus while working with these tools and concepts is to cultivate awareness for one’s intentions (distancing from pretending and approaching to refined attentive states). This is very crucial for decision-making and spontaneous actions while improvising as a collective. These concepts also create references for discussing and analyzing the group creations.
Embodiment Trainings for Mental Health Professionals
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. … As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.” ― Marianne Williamson
› Embodied Psycho-Education for Somatic Experiencing –for mental professionals working in the field of trauma healing or with stressed individuals, who wish to learn with their bodyminds.
In these workshops we are visiting the foundational concepts, theories, and models from Somatic Experiencing, and playfully study basic anatomy in support of understanding them.
We utilize movement and embodiment practices from Experiential Anatomy, Body Mind Centering, Alexander Technique, Contact Improvisation and Authentic Movement along with free improvisations. There are solo, duet and group practices.
We are working with the anatomical make up of our bodies, directing our awareness to responses for inner and outer stimuli. With the aid of more analytic, anatomical visual images and seeking support from other artistic languages (i.e. writing, drawing, sounding etc.) I propose to work with our bodies, discovering relations between our feelings, thoughts, imagination, sensations, postures and movements.
In these meetings you will also get to practice foundational Somatic Experiencing methods for increasing your own window of tolerance and developing resiliency.
These embodying practices also aim to get you more equipped to work with your clients, counselee or patients.
The meetings can be weekly, monthly or in weekend or week long retreat formats.
“Trauma is not what happens to us, but what we hold inside in the absence of an empathetic witness.”― Peter A. Levine
› Embodied Psycho-Education for Integral Somatic Psychology – for professionals working in the field of trauma healing who wish to learn with their bodyminds.
In these workshops we are visiting and playfully studying the foundational concepts, theories, and models from Integral Somatic Psychology.
As we are relating to our own bodies and looking into our own capacity for containing emotions, we visit the 5 elements from Indian Philosophy and use movement articulations visiting the zones of self-touch in ISP. We get to dance instead of just touching these zones, allow and sense the elements and energy flows stronger.
We get to work with and deconstruct the concept of “disturbance”. We work towards building capacity to contain opposites. Through practicing embodiment of polarities within, we cultivate resilience.
Principles of Authentic Movement, Expressive Art Therapies, Experiential Anatomy and Movement Improvisation are being at our guidance. We get to practice co-regulation in duo and group practices, which is very important in our professions.
These practices also aim to get you more equipped to work with your clients, counselee or patients.
The meetings can be weekly, monthly or in weekend or week long retreat formats.
“Embodied attunement is the ability to experience in our bodies emotions in the bodies of others.” ― Raja Selvam
› Every Body Knows™ –for Holotropic Breathwork practitioners
Please find details in therapy section.
“What does it mean to be a dancer? To embody emotions in motion.” ― Andrea Olsen
› Gravitating to Joy –for all human and non human beings
Please find details in therapy section.
Creative Process & Documentation Methodology Trainings
“Replication is impossible, inspiration rather than imitation!” ― Frey Faust
› Hunting, Gathering, Cultivating™ – for beings willing to create and reflect on their creative process
Quest for a joyfully serious and seriously joyful creative process
In this workshop I am proposing to work with the tools of various art disciplines and means of expressive art therapies towards enhancing the creative processes. The primary prospect of this work is to support individuals to relate to their own self and reflect on their needs, ideas, environment and tools in playful and joyful ways.
The workshop flows in accordance with the physical, mental and emotional processes of each participant. Whatever her/his expressive skills are, whichever her/his main language for creation is, each individual will be encouraged to reach out for other languages (movement, drawing, sound, sculpting, writing…) to encounter her/his own landscape of mind and body. Meanwhile we are in constant search for opportunities for everyone to relate to her/his own aesthetic orientations, values, thoughts, fears, judgements etc.
Likewise, participants are guided towards finding and developing their unique ways to create, document and present their authentic works. And the sharing and exchanging group becomes our foundation for supportive and encouraging environment, for the creating individual to be more curious, tolerant to ambiguity, more playful and exploratory.
Directed discussions and feedback time are open on every stage of the work, where the making of each individual is a bridge to verbal communication.
It all comes and it all goes, so lets hunt and gather what’s in-between. Here and now. You and you.
There is no other place to be, no other way to do.
And all I can do is to accompany you in cultivating you…
“What we have to learn to do, we learn by doing.” ― Aristotle“
› Reflective Documentation Tools & Scores for Facilitators & Researchers
I share some of my experiences working as a ‘midwife’ to creativity. In the past decade, I have collaborated with a variety of people, including but not limited to numerous artists at various stages of their careers, giving them guidance in how to document and use the creative process towards the creation of artistic work.
I have been in research groups where I have introduced my tools and methods and acquired new insights toward interdisciplinary collaborative workspaces.
Having been deeply inspired and influenced by other artists and academics, the tools and methods I have developed and used in my work is experimental and eclectic. For more details on this approach and scores to play with please visit my article on the development of this work at mindthedance.com
Embodiment Practices
“Don’t explain your philosophy. Embody it.” ― Epictetus
› Embodying Time – for professional and amateur movers
We can measure time, but this gives us no guarantee that we understand what time is. – Umberto Eco
Let alone understanding; let’s sense, reflect on and play together in & around time. Let’s see if we can define what it is, how it passes through our mind, our bodies and through space as we share it? Diving deep into the field of sensory experiences let’s work on grasping it, i.e. seeking ways of embodying time as we meet in the dance of 5 senses (or maybe more senses)…
The flow proposes:
› Sinking in our ‘skinesphere’ –to find out informed, liberated & sovereign places to move from
› Easing into a flow with explorations in the ‘kinesphere’ – to let go of our controlling mind and start trusting the playful mind & knowing body
› Allowing individual pathways to meet as we utilize different focuses and qualities of reading & listening physically
› Improvising to trust our perception and movement qualities to be eventually informed then & there, in body time!
If you want to get lost in the 4th dimension of our dance, join in.
“Some understand and some understand later”― Julyen Hamilton
› Embodying Time – for senior movers 55 +
We have time!
In this workshop we are “playing” with the principles of Experiential Anatomy, Authentic Movement and Expressive Art Therapies. We are improvising with images, metaphors, objects in order to let go of our thinking mind as we tune into our experiencing body-minds.
Believing that rhythms of movements, gestures, emotions, thoughts, images, and sounds will create dances i.e. encounters with ourselves and others…
Sensing that time goes by… But also knowing that there is no need to chase it… Knowing that there is no one time, but many “times”…
Let’s come together to seek new pathways in and around our bodies. Let’s open space for joy, ease and flow – in our own time!
It is never too late! All is now! There is time!
Let’s find “our dance” – embodying time.
“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.” ― Marcel Proust
› Embodying Consent –